The Jar Of Stars
by Cupcake Narcissist
Summary: There was a guardian before the other guardians, older than them, but hidden in the sky. Children, adults and many others believed in her before dreams, wonder, hope, memories and fun, they believed in wishes. This is the story of The Evening Star, will she be able to finally introduce herself to the guardians, or will she watch over them in her palace in the sky? R&R for more !
1. The Reflection of Dreams

During my time of mortality, I met many strange people. One of these was a woman, my own mother, yearning over the loss of her husband, my father. I did not mourn, for I knew he would be in good hands. Wherever his soul went, I knew it would be safe. My father was a blacksmith, a very profitable career in our time. We had nice hut in a small village, we didn't have much because we didn't need it. Meat and bread on the table was all we wanted, as well as a roof over our heads to shelter us from the rain.

It was that very rain that stole him from us. He went out hunting, for we'd run out of meat for our weekend broth. It was the month of April, during one of the many downpours. He promised my mother he would stay safe, and took our horse out into the forest nearby, hoping for a boar or even a doe. He never returned.

Growing up without him was hard, but I took it upon myself to read his journals, learn his tricks, and hunt for me and my mother to survive. I wished for lots of things at that time. Safety, food, water, survival... All of these were stupidly selfish.

My only selfless wish was that my mother could move on in peace, with or without me. I wasn't granted any of these wishes, I understand why though. I had indeed met many people, but they were all the same because they had no wishes. On the day I turned 12, there was still no person in the world who had a wish. I talked to one old lady, who told me the tale of the golden deer, a deer who could grant any wish for anyone who catches it. And so, I began my hunt. I left my mother behind with an inn keeper, who I learned after my own death, married my mother.

On calm night, was when I saw the flash of gold, it had been nearly three years since I had first set off, I was now 15. When I saw that tiny flash, my hope took hold, and I began to run, though I had not drunken anything in days. My head was spinning, but my sprint continued, until I found out what it was.

A pond, so tiny and intricate, yet it held the beauty of the world on its surface. The night sky seemed to be illuminated by the stars and the surface of the pond glowed golden. There was no golden deer, only something more magical and precious. I made one more wish at this pond. That wish was for just one thing; for others to be able to have wishes for their own, and have them granted like my own were not.

That was when I died, maybe it was from my depraved body, or maybe I was heartbroken though my heart was still my own. But I died there, and as the lights died out in my eyes, one light remained. One star and I remember it as clearly as day, because that was when I was chosen to be reborn as something much greater.

I became the evening star, the bearer who grants wishes and protects the stars from burning out. I was given this gift by the moon. The man in the moon to be specific, he let me grant my own wish. The wish to let other's wish, and therefore, I thank him for everything.


	2. The Little Angels

After the man in the moon spoke to me, he gave me powers no mortal could ever have. He instructed me on what I needed to do, and I dared not to question him. He is my god; he could take away my gift at any time if I disobeyed, though he did not mention it.

After seeing me struggle, he gave me the gift to save children from death, but they would have to serve me in return. Do not get me in the wrong; I made sure it was always their choice as I would never dare to force a soul into labour without consent.

The first child I saved was a small girl named Sasha at age seven; she had been dying of cholera in London. I asked her whether she would like to live, and she mistook me for an angel. She said yes, and she grew large feathery wings on her back, and that was when I realised, I too had a pair of wings. Instead of walking across the world, I could fly. I gave my thanks to the moon.

Sasha grew close to me, as my first helper, though she was more of a younger sister to me. She helped me listen to the many dreams of the children of the world. Many wished selflessly until the dark ages. All of the wishes went haywire, and another immortal arose from the bleakness of it all. I remember his greyish skin and cold glare as he looked upon the world with such disgust. He had planned to ruin it, kill off the innocence and replace it with fear. More children died, and I gained more helpers to collect wishes. The wishes were all bad, and went haywire, refusing to be caught.

I used some of my powers to make a magic jar, which would take in all of these bad wishes and seal them inside. Some mistook my jar for a box, and even had the nerve to call me Pandora in Greece.

My jar could not rescue all the little children from bad wishes and intentions, so I asked the moon for help. He did so in the best way possible; giving birth to four new immortals. One was very large man who went by the name of Santa Claus, or North. One was a short man, draped in glittering golden sand, he went by Sandy. The third was a Pooka, or a rabbit-man, and he went by Bunny. The fourth was a woman, she was covered in feathers that fanned out to look like a dress and she went by the name of tooth.

The price of these immortals was for me to hide until they were ready to meet me. The man in the moon told me they would not be safe knowing that I existed. I did not know why, and he never told me. I continued to collect wishes, I had thirteen children helping me; each one had the power to stay hidden from sight of the guardians. We continued or work in peace for forty years.

Another two immortals were born, one was short and always wore green, the legend was that she was a leprechaun, and so the guardians called her Leppy, though she wasn't a guardian at all. The next, was a tall man with a moustache, they called him the ground hog, thought it'd be funny I guess. Sasha told me about them, as I had no free time to myself.

A hundred years after that, another immortal arose; they called him Jack Frost. I received more than one wish from him; all he wanted was to be seen, and I granted him that during his battle with pitch black, as the moon had given me permission to do. His little sister, is part of my wishing flock, which must be part of the reason the man in the moon did not want me to meet the guardians just yet, even though Jack became a guardian, he was still unstable.

I had met Jack's little sister Jane as she was dying from heartbreak, a lost soul. She missed her brother so much, she took her own life, but when I spoke to her fragile spirit, she didn't want to move on. She became my helper because I said she could watch over Jack like his own guardian. They would meet someday too, and both would be cured of their own unstable thoughts.

I will still have to wait for the day I meet the guardians, but, I know it will be soon as the eclipse draws closer, the time when all new beginnings awaken. Perhaps a new immortal will be born, or I shall gain another helper, either of which I would not complain about, as I've already sixteen helpers now, the newest was a young blonde child named Sophie, she was hit by a car. In order to watch over her brother Jamie, she joined me and my little angels. She and Jane are now very close and have captured the most haywire wishes since Sophie joined us. Once again, I gave my thanks to the moon.


	3. The Crone, The Fall and The Rise

Me and my helpers stay in our haven at daylight, for if a mortal was to see us, they would either go blind or their eyes would be burned out, which is why the stars only come out at night. Our haven is known as the palace in the sky, as it is hidden by the clouds and is invisible to all but me and my helpers, and only a person who has heard of its whereabouts could ever find it. At night, is when the palace lights up, and above it, high in the sky is the star that was named after me or I was named after it. But as it watches over the earth, we do too.

When the night finally came, Sasha headed out first with one of the jars that was half empty. Next to go was Jane and Sophie, then Joseph and Aaron and the rest. I stepped out onto the take-off platform to wish them good luck with the rounds. The moon was still rising, but I could see the man inside was restless, unable to sleep during the day due to the arrival of the coming eclipse. I gave him a silent nod, and looked down off of the take-off platform.

Swirls of clouds moved around like smoke below me, the cities began to light up and glow like fireflies. I stretched out my wings, they ached to fly, but it was not time to leave the nest yet, but I could still go down there, because of another gift the man in the moon had given me. I could disguise myself as any human I see, and could hide amongst them without being found or sensed by any immortals.

With a slow step, I dived off of the glittering platform. I felt the winds rush up against me, making my shiny robes fly behind me as I streamlined for the sea below me, next to New York City on long island. The murky water was coming closer and closer, and I made sure my wings vanished for now, as I took on a human form. I saw my reflection in the water, I was my old human self again, well, I looked like it.

I collided with the water pretty hard, but I didn't feel a thing. The sea brightened up and glowed like it was daylight underneath its surface. The knots in my brunette hair unfurled and my robed flowed smoothly around me. I took a moment to ravish in the warmth before rising out of the water. I waited a few moments for a cruise ship to appear and then climbed up its emergency ladder to get on board. Many mortals must've been asleep, so nobody noticed me walk inside the passenger rooms.

The room I snuck into was a older teen's, she was snoring away, but no dream sand was surrounding her, so she was in a light sleep. So it was a warning to be silent.

I took a pair of shorts from her and a tee shirt and then left as the ship approached long Island. As nobody was around, I changed in an empty room before walking out on the deck again. The boat lurched as the anchor was thrown off, into the dark, dark sea. I stared at it, wondering if perhaps the new guardian would be something to with it. Thought I doubted it.

At first, the city was quiet, but as I was far enough away from the docks, my ear drums exploded. Crazy drivers zoomed around, and drunken men harassed anyone near them. It was saddening to see the human race be hit by abuse and dishonourment like this, but it seemed that these people are the ones with no dreams. It was almost disgusting how the world had become within seven hundred years.

The only innocence left to protect was in the children, which was up to the five guardians of fun, memory, hope, dreams and wonder to complete; I trusted them completely.

I rested against a wall, and looked through my eyes to search for someone worthy, but there was nothing. There was only one wish that could be heard in the whole of New York. I strained my ears for that faint whisper.

Please hear my wish... I wish that my entire life could be used to save someone, and be remembered by them forever, never forgotten.

I closed my eyes and saw an old lady in her bed, coughing. I made sure I turned invisible before flying to the house where the old lady was in. When I unfurled my wings, the mortal clothes burned and were replaced by the brightly shining robes again. My white wings fluttered a few times before curling behind me to land on the old woman's balcony. She was a rich woman as her house was large, but she seemed alone.

The glass doors opened gently without me needing to touch them. I gave a smile to the old woman, but she did not return it. She was genuinely shocked to see me, I walked to her bed side and held out my hand.

"Your wish has been heard. It is up to you now, whether you would like it to come true or not." I said to her, my hand still out, palm facing upwards.

"Are you an angel?" She croaked.

"No, I go by many things, but I am called the evening star." I explained.

"Then please, please do grant my wish. I do not want to die alone..." She looked sad and worthless.

"I understand, may you live out the rest of your days in peace." A small golden glow appeared at my forefinger's tip, and I gently touched the woman's forehead, then turned away to leave.

"You are too young for this." The woman stated from behind me.

"Do not mistake me for a child; I am nearly eight times your own age." I gave her a nod before taking off from her balcony. I flew high over the many buildings of New York, but I did not stop again. My helpers would return soon with news, and I could not simply be careless and miss that. So up I went, to sit in my brightly coloured throne of wishes once again.


	4. The Staff of wishes

Sasha returned first with her jar full of selfishly sinned wishes and then gave a curtsy before heading to the room of sin. I waited for a moment or two before Sophie and Jane landed lightly on the glass platform. I gave them a smile as they too headed to the room to replace their jars. My wings once again ached for another quick flight. But tonight was not the night for trivial longings.

I stood up and approached a small staff in the middle of the room, perched up on its own stand, the staff of wishes, my only weapon. It was taller than me by a head, but I never complained. With a quick swish of my hand, I ripped the cover off of the staff, causing dust to fly everywhere. The orb at the top shimmered almost brighter than my skin in the daylight; I did not dare to touch it right now. I would only use my full powers if reason should ever fail, or if the man in the moon ever tells me to.

Sasha and the other's returned to the room, their bare feet made light padding noises as they came into view, then sitting themselves amongst the pillows in the far corner. Slowly but as gently as possible, I placed the cover back onto my staff, quenching the light until it gradually faded.

I gathered up my skirts and raised them above my ankles, "Prepare for a quick flight before dawn." I told my little angels softly. One of the youngest, a boy named Harrison, was staring out at the glittering sky. His eyes were wide and full of wonder; I couldn't help but to smile a little at his innocence.

"But Lady Eve, we have not done so in nearly thirty years." Sasha stated with her eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion. She stretched out her wings, and yawned.

"I have a feeling we must fly tonight." I admitted as I walked up the steps to the take off platform. I turned back and let my skirts fall gracefully down the stairs. Little shards of stardust flew off and shimmered before dying out.

"Who will join me?" I asked, unleashing my own wings that stretched out at a proud fifteen foot length. Sophie and Jane were the first to make a move, and each of them got up quickly and followed me up the stairs. I gave them a silent thank you as we walked out onto the platform.

The other helpers soon made their way out onto the glass too, some were still cautious, as if flying together would be a bad idea. I stared up at the glittering night sky, there were many clouds drifting past steadily, but the moon glowed most of all. I smiled, and then after years, I heard the voice I'd been wanting to hear reach my ears like a reaping of sadness.

_The Sandman is ready for you, _The Man in the Moon said to me, his voice ringing slightly in my chasm-like mind. Then he added something extremely important; _you must go alone._


	5. The Sandman on His Ancient Golden Cloud

The flight began with the usual formation, me in the lead and everyone else spread out in twos like we were lined up for Noah's Arch. Sasha and Harrison were behind me, chatting to each other politely, though I knew by their thoughts that they did not get along. As we fell through the air, I did not motion the signal for my helpers to glide just yet; instead I gave a little message inside Sasha's mind.

_You will take the helpers to continue the flight; there is something I must do, _I told her.

_Alright, what do you need to get done?_ She asked me, confused.

_Official and very private business_, I instructed strictly.

_I understand, I'll lead the flight to the best of my ability,_ she promised me.

With that done, I signalled for them to extend their wings to fly. All of my angels flew upwards with each other, but I stayed in my steady dive without them. I watched them fly away and struggle to adjust to Sasha's lead; I smiled as the clouds stole them away from me. I drew closer to the city and gave a sigh as I finally let my wings loose from captivity. It took me an hour to find Sandy.

From his cloud of golden sand, I wondered what he could see. He was doing his job in complete silence, not even the dream sand dared to whisper as little streams of it flowed from Sandy's cloud. I raised my body weight a little in order to fly upwards as I landed lightly on a roof of a building near Sandy's cloud. I watched him for a moment and then let my form fade into its invisible state. I came up with something to say that would not scare him, nor cause him to want to fight with me as he could easily reveal me to his fellow guardians. I could not risk failure.

Sandman, do not be afraid of me, you must listen to my voice carefully, I whispered smoothly into his head. He jolted fiercely and looked around wildly with his big eyes that shined the colour of the sun in the shade. He stared right through me, and continued to look around for the owner of my voice. He did not seem to show any hesitation, so I spoke again.

The Man in the moon has sent me to finally meet you, I will not show myself to you unless you agree to not tell or show the guardians of our meeting here.

He gave a careful nod, as if he had no idea what was going on, but then he probably did not. But Sandy was a smart man, he wasn't some foolhardy idiot. I smiled at the golden man. Finally, I would have another guardian to speak to, though he could not speak to me without a qualifying reason. I stared down at my hands and willed my invisibility to fade. My skin began to shimmer and show my real form, starting with my fingers and then travelling up my arm just as the first rays of sunlight glimmered over the horizon.

He turned around and his wide eyes grew wider as I smiled and leaped off the building to be on par with him. With my wings outstretched and my hair going wild with the wind, I wasn't sure if I scared him, but either way, there was no backing out now.

"I am the Evening Star, young one." I smiled brightly at him.


	6. The Sunrise Over Seven Hundred Years

Poor Sandy nearly fell off of his cloud as he stumbled backwards to protect himself. I couldn't really help but chuckle slightly at him because it was slightly comical. I stared him down for a moment as he took in the view of my temporary form. A question mark appeared above his head.

_Do not be afraid, young one, I shall not hurt you, _I yawned, daylight was approaching with speed and I could feel its effects already.

He stood up; rubbing sand through his fingers like it was a moisturizer of some sort. I guessed it was his coping mechanism or something like that. He stared at me, unable to speak. His golden eyes glazed over with wonder as I stretched out tiredly. Immortals do not need sleep, but both I, and my helpers do not need to do our work during the daylight hours. In that way, we had some freedom of responsibility. I gave him a hopeful smile as he balanced himself out.

"I have watched over you for a long time, young one." I spoke in a calming tone.

He stared at me again, tilted his head and then spoke in a tiny whisper, "I normally do not talk because I do not want to wake somebody up, so we can hold conversation through our minds if that is okay." His wispy hair was blowing around through the wind and some dreamsand slipped away. He blew out his cheeks awkwardly as he waited for my reply.

_That is fine, young one_, I nodded my head gently.

_Why can I not tell the guardians about you?_ He asked me.

_They are not ready. The only reason I am here is because the Man in the Moon had told me you were ready so I finally came here to meet you._ I lowered my gaze with a tiny frown.

_So you will eventually talk to them too?_ He questioned as a bird glided past with a squawk.

_When the time is right_... I sighed.

I see... He mused as he rested himself on his cloud.

_ You shall not tell them of me, I trust?_ I smirked as the sandman gave a tiny nod of his round head. _Good. I shall talk to you again._ And then I flew away as the sun began to send its rays over the horizon like a flock of gulls. I grinned at the clouds that had begun to turn orange as day-rise was appearing more and more apparent by the seconds. The orange colour was just like Sandy's sandy robes. The Man in the Moon stayed strong even though the sun was trying to block him out.

Well done Evening Star your next meeting should be North, head over there when you next can. Even though a human would complain and ask for a pay rise, I was just plain happy, happier than I had been in a while. So, next was North, the fearsome Russian Santa Claus. I could finally talk to the other guardians after seven hundred years of pure immortality and work. This would be fun, but first, my duties needed to be done.

As I spread out my wings further, I sped upwards like an upside down dive until I flew right through the clouds. I accidently crashed into someone in the large cloud and almost like second nature, I turned myself invisible to the untrained eye. The only thing I'd heard from the person was a big 'ouch' and all I saw was a flash of blue. This only meant one thing- Jack Frost.

Before he looked around for me and got suspicious of what hit him, I escaped and cleared out from the area as fast as I could. The sun was almost at its full height, but until it was fully up, it would not turn me visible. Through the clouds above, my palace glittered brightly, parallel to the sun with colours. My invisibility finally faded as I landed on the glass platform. Jane and Sasha ran towards me with beaming smiles. I couldn't help but smile too.


	7. The Uneasy and Foreboding Feeling

Other than Jane and Sasha, there was nobody on the platform in the main room. Everybody had gone to sleep, even I felt tired. I knew being tired was a side effect from lack of sleep or too much sleep and if I'd never gone to sleep as an immortal, I never would've had to feel the pain of being tired.

Jane sat on the floor and began to brush her hair before she too went to sleep. It truly was such a shame that she wouldn't be able to talk to Jack until I allow her too, so the least I could do was be something like a motherly figure towards her. Although, most of my helpers thought me as an 'older sister', they all acted like siblings anyhow so it did not matter if they're parents were gone... Well it wasn't exactly fair how they lived on without their family, but it was their own choice to keep living on.

I knelt down behind Jane and took the brush out of her hands with a small chuckle. She waited to see what I was going to do but she should not have been worried for all I did was begin to brush her hair. It felt like a soft river, though her hair was slightly knotted from the flight earlier, although, it still flowed through the brush as easy as wind in a valley.

I continued to brush her hair just like that for a few moments until I handed it back to her and made my way to the room of sin. Wishes that had gone bad, needed to be checked on or they would become reviled up with loneliness and break the jars that contained them. Being The Evening Star, was not all fun, games and collecting good wishes. No, there were unlucky parts that were never mentioned in the job description. Jane's brown eyes searched through mine and she grinned at me, she was so strong to be able to just breathe everything through and not dwell on anything.

"Hey, Eve, don't worry about anything." She said as she walked down the hall by my side. I had no idea where Sasha had gone, but I presumed she was around nearby, if not sleeping in her room. I stared down at Jane.

"I am not entirely worried, but I have a feeling we need to be more cautious for now." I faltered slightly at the end. What was I saying? If anything, I was making _her_ worried.

"Alright, I shall tell the others." Jane smiled as she flew off into one of the doorways on the ceiling that of course, only those who could fly could go through. As I wandered through the halls, my mind came to rest on Sandy, he wasn't a bad man, but something weird was shrouding him this very morn. Something so odd and unexplainable, even I, who was 700 years old could not explain.

I was glad Jane had been kind to me; it made me feel better about everything. I often found myself into strange and one-sided mind-arguments, but I wasn't ever selfish enough to do these things for attention. I smiled at the ceiling as I reached a door at the end of the long hallway.

The large doors opened slowly as I pressed my hands against them. A bluish light phased over the crack in between the doors as the creaked slightly open. I waited for a moment, releasing my hands from the door. Nothing unusual, was I just being paranoid about being cautious?

I walked into the room, it was dark, and the only light in the room came from the jars of sin. Most of the lights were a greenish colour, like the colour of spring during the first few buds. How something so pretty could be so ugly, would never be explained.

The wishes danced around in their jars, wanting to be free to wreak havoc over hundreds of people. If even one was released, it could take years to find again, and by then, it would've destroyed somebody else's wishes. Catching them was like paying off the hidden tax in buying a diamond ring. I guess sometimes it was hard for people to understand, wishes are wishes right? And I'm not the best person to explain this, really.

I took a look at each jar, making sure none had taken off or smashed. Nothing. Nothing was wrong, and that in itself kept me on the edge. There was something I was missing, or something I had forgotten.


End file.
